Is this becoming a cult classic? I was at a screening of the movie at a campus movie theater (part of Philip K Dick marathon) and was expecting to be alone in theater. To my surprise atleast fifty people showed up. Does this film have a cult following I wasn't aware of?
It could also be that many were Philip K. Dick fans (or fans of other PKD adaptations -- not necessarily the same thing) who hadn't seen the movie yet.
I think it has a couple of things that are helping it to cult status. One is it's a PK Dick story. The other is Peter Weller, who is looked upon rather favorably in the sci-fi realm after Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop.
I thinks it's an ok film. But I like alot of the elements in it... Isolation, paranoia, fear of technology, ect. I too would have been surprised that 50 people came to see it though. I'm not sure 50 people saw it during it's theatrical run.
I loved the movie at the time of its initial release, with some reservations (the fight scene between one of the principal antagonists, who I won't mention for fear of spoiling the movie, and Weller - which seemed a tacked-on Hollywood contrivance), and I still love it now: it's one of my favourite SF films of the 1990s. It's got a great atmosphere and a fantastic deadpan performance from the great Peter Weller, and I also think it adapts the themes of PKD's story pretty well.
However, I thought the movie had been all but forgotten about; it certainly wasn't a big hit when it was first released.
'What does it matter what you say about people?' Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).
Agree with the above about the investigative element being underexploited. We needed a someone falls into a Screamer lab full of Screamers designing and building new Screamers with little Screamer hierarchies of leadership and little Screamer v Screamer squabbles and other little Screamer stuff like that scene.
The wrap-up certainly was a let down. Nice of the NEB chief not having already snuck away on his little spacepod at the first sign of trouble ... the looove pod ... all shiny and newwwwwww ....
I also have an issue with the following: Interesting that the teardrop guy shot and killed the boy when they approached their bunker, picking him as a Screamer ... while being a Screamer all along ... hiding his Screamerosity from their hostess ... Screamer ... omg were these Screamers aware that the others also were Screamers, or were the Screamer brass back in Screamer cave withholding info in some sort of elaborate guinea pig setup?
I have an observation to bounce off you guys : Notice that when umm Weller's character was trying to call Alliance base from the ruins where they found the boy, that the boy noticed him doing so, sidled over closer, and suddenly Weller (whats his character's name again?) couldnt get a clear reception.
THEN they've entered the NEB 2 plus tartlet hideout and while strolling along a catwalk, he tries again. Teardrop guy hears, stops, backs up to Weller, and again, transmission just sucks.***
THEN they are leaving the compound, and Teardrop is removing the blade from the fans, while next to him, Weller is again unable to make contact with the Alliance base.
Were they on all three occasions moving to within close proximity of the radio and jamming the signal?
*** My inference stumbles a little here, as after Teardrop asks Weller what he's doing, and gets a stubborn answer, Teardrop eventually imposingly struts away, yet the signal is not reinstated.
Otherwise, really enjoyed this movie. Not sure if it has the right stuff to become a cult movie though. Is it a crap movie a bunch of people love? No, its not crap enough to fit that bill. Is it hard to find, yet lauded by those few who have discovered it, only screened by some lucky cult movie nerd to his mates? No, its on DVD and shows up as torrents when googled. Is it an unknown movie a bunch of people love? Closer the mark, maybe.
Does anybody know the criteria for "cult" handy? I was just using my own take on it ... heh ... *cough*